


Things we've seen before

by theangstyace



Series: Reincarnation AU [1]
Category: Tales of Zestiria
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - Reincarnation, Angst, Gen, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-10-23
Updated: 2016-10-23
Packaged: 2018-08-24 03:45:30
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,148
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8355745
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/theangstyace/pseuds/theangstyace
Summary: It's strange how children's minds work sometimes





	

**Author's Note:**

> I'm so proud of myself I managed to write 1000+ words and edit all in the span of an hour. Go me. 
> 
> I based this off of a thing on tumblr I saw with this fox on a gravestone and someone brought up the reincarnation thing so I'm like what if this was Sormik ¯\\_(ツ)_/¯
> 
> I didn't want to make it /too/ tragic and it was also really short if I left it where I left it haha.

“Over here!”

“Over where?”

“That’s weird...It’s usually here,” The small redhead trailed off, looking through the wrought iron gates of the cemetery. It was a dreary sight to see, such small children looking upon something so desolate. Although, unlike the setting, the day had been sunny. The sun refracted brightly off of the freshly fallen snow. The redhead stood up on her tiptoes while the blonde she had brought along stayed still. 

“What do you mean, Rose?” The small blonde asked quietly, looking over to her friend. Rose blinked, her blue eyes twinkling with determination. 

Rose’s gaze slowly trailed towards Alisha. The girl buried her nose into her scarf and glanced over to Rose. Her green eyes stood out starkly against her milky skin. In the corner of her vision, a figure danced across the virgin snow. She tore her gaze from her friend back to the graveyard. A white fox jumped throughout the deep snow, kicking up dust. 

“There he is!” Rose exclaimed, taking no care whether or not she would spook the animal. The fox stopped and looked back, blinking slowly. It then turned around and continued along its path. Alisha squinted, trying to follow the direction that Rose was pointing. The fox bounded up toward a gravestone and dug at the snow with its paws. It dug until the snow had revealed a dead patch of grass underneath, then turned in circles a few times as most animals do and settled down, curled in a ball. 

“He’s always here,” Rose continued. Trying desperately to read what the stone said. 

“Pretty!” Alisha cooed, pressing her face against the gate. The fox looked up sadly at the girls, settling down with a satisfied huff. 

“Girls! What are you doing here?” A soft voice resonated from behind the two. Alisha looked back and straightened. “Miss Lailah,” Alisha murmured. Rose still stayed at the gate, squinting. Lailah kneeled down with a sigh. Alisha looked down at her feet, ready for a scolding. 

“Hey, Miss Lailah,” Rose said absentmindedly. “Can you read what that says, where the fox is?” Lailah raised an eyebrow, leveling her gaze to where she was pointing. A white fox lay curled up against a dark gravestone. The name was engraved in loopy calligraphy, but as a skilled calligraphist herself, Lailah read it. 

“It says, ‘ _ Sorey Shepherd, Friend, Loving family member,’ _ ” Lailah whispered. Her eyebrows drew together in worry. Alisha and Rose were both her students in her first grade class. It was slightly worrying to see both girls fascinated with something so morbid. Rose brought her gaze to Alisha and grinned.

“Hey!” She exclaimed, causing Alisha to jump. “Maybe the fox knew the person on the gravestone!” The blonde’s eyes lit up.

“Yeah!” Alisha smiled. “My auntie Maltran read a story about these people who kept finding each other… she called it re-re-incar… ah..”

“Reincarnation?” Lailah supplied helpfully. Alisha’s eyes twinkled with recognition. “Yes, that is a popular element in writing.”  _ More specifically in romance, but they don’t need to know that.  _ Another plausible explanation was her family was very religious. Concepts like those were always present.  

Alisha nodded vehemently. “Yes! Like that! Maybe they were close before, but maybe now they came back like that.” 

“And, and maybe the person whose name is on the stone is late so the person who the fox is waiting!” Rose added, wildly gesticulating. Lailah smiled gently, patting both of the girl’s heads. “That may be so,” she sighed, humoring the girls. The name ‘Sorey’ tugged at a few heart strings; he was a close friend of her who had died a few months earlier. She didn’t have to strain her eyes to know that the tombstone next to his had the name ‘Mikleo’ engraved in the same calligraphy. 

“Both of you head home, now, alright?” The girls nodded. 

 

* * *

 

A few months later, on a cold February morning, Lailah walked past the graveyard again. The words of Rose and Alisha still clung to the forefront of her thoughts. In fact, both girls seemed to be in her thoughts these days. It was disheartening to hear of what was going on with both of them. Alisha moved away to the small town of Marlind away from where they currently resided in, leaving Rose devastated. Another week later, Rose moved away somewhere to another family that would foster her. Ladylake was soon becoming empty. 

The small sound of a collision in the melting snow jolted her from her thoughts. In the graveyard, the usual patron of the grave plot was tackled by a newcomer; a tan fox stumbled excitedly into the slightly smaller white one; although his fur was becoming a more gray as the seasons began to change. The smaller fox begrudgingly returned the playful gesture with a personality more befitting to a cat. Lailah smiled, thinking about the numerous times the thumps in the snow would be from snowballs being thrown and sprinkles of playful laughter blending in perfectly. A sad smile graced her lips. She bowed her head and continued on. 

A warm hand found its way onto her shoulder, startling her. Lailah reached for the pepper spray in her pocket. She spun around and pointed the small container toward her assailant. 

“Woah, there,” Zaveid exclaimed, mockingly putting his hands up in surrender. “No need to bring out the big guns.” Lailah sighed in relief, chuckling silently at the irony of his statement. He  _ was  _ the one who had bought it for her in the first place. 

“Says the police officer,” She replied playfully. 

Zaveid patted his hip. “Touche.” 

Both of them laughed, beginning to engage in small talk. It was nice to think of something more uplifting; although, the outside of a graveyard seemed a bit of a strange setting to do it in. Lailah’s body buzzed with a happy warmth. 

“This seems a bit sudden, but would you like to get some coffee?” Lailah asked. As nice as it was to catch up with an old friend, her fingertips were going a bit numb. Zaveid laughed raucously. 

“Are you sure you’re feeling alright?” He asked playfully. “Usually I’m the one to ask you out.” Lailah hid her smile behind a hand.

“And I usually turn you down,” She added. “Now do you want coffee or not?” Zaveid nodded, always one to take advantage of free things. Although, she knew one way or another he would insist on paying. Something to do with a very loud proclamation of several things, (that usually made little to no sense nine times out of ten), ending in a very awkward situation until the topic was changed. 

Even as she distracted herself with other things, the memory of the two foxes at the graveyard still lingered. 

It was probably a trick of the light, but Lailah swore that the gray fox looked up at her with eerie amethyst eyes.


End file.
